Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

Apple vs Meta: The Illusion of Privacy.
Learn how Apple and Meta use psychology and UX to collect your data while creating an illusion of privacy.

Read in full here:

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That is well worth a read!

And a question for anyone using an Apple device, have you switched on/were you aware of Advanced Data Protection?

It is off by default!! (Find it by: Settings > Your name/Apple ID > iCloud > Advanced Data Protection)

They try to scaremonger you into not activating it - in reality you’ll only need the key in pretty extreme circumstances:

What are the odds of you losing access to all of your devices, all of your backups, your passcode, and your phone number all at once? (Pretty minimal I’d say!)

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Related:

If you don’t trust the provider then the encryption is pointless without making the whole platform open source in a way everyone can verify that deployed version is as same as the shared one …

Without it it’s pretty easy to visualise potential privacy problems:

some_data
|> tap(&save_somewhere/1)
|> then(&encrypt/1)
|> then(&save_to_server_accessed_by_users/1)

The save_somewhere/1 function may do a 1-way connection to store some data, so it’s accessible only locally. This way we can prevent data leak by encryption and keep going with unfair practices.

I never understood such ideas. On one side you would have penalty if you don’t follow many of the agreements signed by USA/EU, but at the same time governments wants to have access to the encrypted data. You can’t prevent leaks if you demand leaks. That’s why I consider to relocate somewhere in Asia. There is for sure no perfect country, but there are still some countries that are relatively normal especially comparing to so-called “West World”.

Yeah, I’ve commented about this in the past as well:

Where? I have been considering travelling for a while as well! :smiley:

For me the best would be Japan, but it’s not really easy to relocate there. I would either need to have a huge funds and work plan for years or remotely find job for a Japanese company that also can help me with VISA. For sure there are many ways to visit this country, but relocate permanently is not so easy.

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Maybe look into something like…

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Foreigners interested in the Regional Revitalization Program must meet Japan’s visa and residency requirements. Unlike some other migration schemes, this program does not automatically grant a visa or residency status. Applicants must already hold or obtain a visa that allows for long-term residence in Japan.

In very short this means that I need to work for Japan company for many years and maybe if everything goes without any issue they would give me a permanent residence visa. You cannot relocate to Japan for work if you are not expert in some topic as the company asking for visa for you needs to prove that your skills are needed as they cannot find anyone else for this job in country’s job market.

10 million abandoned free houses? Sure, all you have to do is to destroy them and rebuild from start because they are usually dangerous to live in. Often they are abandoned after being partially destroyed by earthquakes or just a time. In very short if somebody in Japan have relocated to big city for some reason (better job, earthquake damaging house, waterfall damaging city and so on …) which in most cases shows that people don’t want to live there.

There are some other things to consider like smaller salaries, black companies, Japanese work culture, for example you may have trouble finding another job as usually most people in Japan work for one company for the whole life. On one side it means stability, but on the other one it means worse chance for freelancers.

For me even all of mentioned costs would not scare me as long as I would be sure that I can “just” relocate and know that I would not be send back if I would make a smallest mistake. The reality is rather different. You have to work for a Japanese company for many years and maybe then you would get a permanent residency.

You can’t just relocate to Japan and create company there. Sure, there is a visa for that but it’s very complicated like you have to show the company activity. In theory peace of cake, right? Think that for few years you not only have to show the income, but show other very detailed documents for your company plans etc. I don’t think it’s as easy as send to your accountant bank prove of income and bills you pay and then expect that everything would just go well …

Summary:

  1. You need to have a permanent residence, which is rather hard to claim
  2. Mentioned visa requires many years of work, so it’s not like you can relocate “just now”
  3. Usually house you get is partially or fully damaged and you have to rebuild it
  4. There are many restrictions like if you get a house “for free” then you have to not only maintain it and live there for many years - you can’t just rebuild it and sell or relocate to a bigger city to get a better job etc.
  5. You can’t just create a company only for you as a freelancer as you need to have lots of money, organise mettings and reports to prove your company activity and prove the income
  6. There are most probably many more restrictions or costs I forgot or don’t know yet about

So you have to work for many years, be expert in what you do, create a very solid company (not just as a freelancer) or marry with a Japan citizen. None of those can be done “right now” and none of those are as simple as “find a job”.

Think twice about it: there are 10 million free houses and the article mentions only few thousands people used such an option. Not few thousand people from one country and not few thousand per month - it’s just few thousand people from the world used it.

I understand that there are agreements between EU countries, but when I was crossing the border I don’t had to tell anything (Poland → Czech Republic, Czech Republic → Hungary) or just show my ID / passport (Hungary → Romania) and just say there that I’m relocating for a work. I didn’t had to prove anything, show any other documents and so on … I could “just relocate” and don’t worry that I would be send back if I don’t show the income or activity for a some time.

As said I can absolutely consider working much harder, paying more or even maintain a damaged and abandoned house as long as the relocation itself would not be overcomplicated.

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